PES activists interview: PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, June 2006

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Aleksander: Dear Poul, when will it be possible to vote the orientation of the PSE ? Have you forseen to ask the PSE Members to vote in order to designate the person who will lead the PSE lists in 2009? If yes, when and how will it be done? If no, why?

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (PNR): As you know, we have led the PES through important reforms in the past two years - the idea is to involve individual members of our parties more and more in the work of the PES. PES consists of national member parties. And our policies are formed on the basis of gathering all sister parties for a common line. This is the principle of representative democracy.

But at the same time we are strong believers of direct engagement of as many party members as possible. A part of my political conviction is: "To be something is to do something". To involve yourself in a case you believe in is one of the best things in political life.

It was a good day when we - in Vienna at our Council - decided to create our PES Activists. A big step forward for internal democracy. Concerning the lists for the 2009 elections, they remain, according to the treaties national lists. The idea of a person leading the PES lists for the European Parliamentary elections, which Jacques Delors introduced a few years ago, is interesting and deserves debate.

Saverio: Why do we need to be part of a member party to be PES activist? Why don't we allow the existence of PES members without the constraint to be member in some national parties? Why can't we create the base of the PES not only through its member parties, but also through other channels?

PNR: Because we are fighting politically for the same values, our common case, our direction in all our democratic houses: local, regional, national and now European. The same values as socialists and social democrats, but different tools to obtain our common goals. Our idea is to involve party members at European level. It is based on the same idea of local democracy as in your own party: You do not join the national party directly. You join a local branch and then get involved at the different levels. By being a PES activist you can now also do so at a European level.

Antoine: Hello! I'm very happy to have become a PES activist today, on Europe's Day, until I realised that this is not an actual membership: I was already considered a PES member since I'm a member of a PES member party. Now, I can access blocs, forums, interviews, BUT I won't be able to vote at Congresses. I think there are still improvements to be achieved. What do you think?

PNR: We are on an exciting journey with the launch of PES activists. Ahead of us is a strong and real European political party. And we are sure of one thing: The role of PES activists will develop. We count on your ideas: Why don't you / and other PES Activist attend the PES Congress in December. And in 2007 we will make it a true, strong, new initiative together with all PES activists. Concerning the voting, please refer to my answer to Aleksander and be sure of one thing: With your support, we will constantly achieve improvements and develop our common party.

Jesús Espín: Setting up a group of volunteers in order to promote socialism everywhere is a great idea, but does helping a particular candidate or party win the elections make sense? Imagine what it would be like in Italy, where we have two PES member parties? Or France, where internal rivalries are very strong?

PNR: You are right! I think it would be brilliant if PES activists set up a group of volunteers to help our national member parties in elections. To take the example of France, which you mentioned, it is of course up to the members of the French 'Parti Socialiste' to choose their own Presidential candidate, but I am sure they would be delighted to have the help of PES activists during the elections. It would be up to each member party to ask for help, so I don’t think the existence of two member parties in a country would be a problem.

Jesús Espín: I think it is fundamental to create mechanisms that involve and give more responsibility to each citizen in the decision-making process. How can we apply the concept of an active society at the local level, at the level of the neighborhoods? How can we better organise town councils in this sense, especially in the big cities, so that they should not remain a machinery that is faraway from the people?
 
PNR: I agree that local democracy is really fundamental. There more we can involve our citizens, the better. In my country, Denmark, trade unions and other social organizations are very involved in providing services, so citizens do have many ways of having their say. It is about creating new, democratic rooms for involvement. New networks. New opportunities to do something more for others than yourself! I would be very interested in hearing examples of how socialists and social democrats have tried to bring decision-making to a more local level. You cannot do it theoretically - it must be related to a concrete job to be done! Democracy cannot stand still, it must be modernized and improved all the time, otherwise people get bored with it.
 

Daniel: Hi Poul, I wonder what you think about the talk about making the EU to a more federal power. Are you positive to that kind of change or do you think that EU should be a cooperation between states and governments like it was planned to be from the beginning?

PNR: We should think of our Europe as composing of four democratic houses - local, regional, national and the European house. And we must be clear: We have the same goals in each of the four houses, our social democratic values, but different tools to obtain our goals. The one house does not take away anything from the other houses - but strengthening especially the European house will be to the benefit of all the other houses including the nation states. It is a very specific European construction: We have gone far beyond just a collection of national governments. The interplay ensuring European laws, European policies and a European budget are the proof. It is all decided by the European Parliament in conjunction with the Councils of Ministers, and with the judgements of a European Court. But I believe that national governments should be more active in explaining their citizens what they do in EU and how Europe is helping the nation. National Parliaments should be more involved in debating European issues.

 
Valéry-Xavier: The EU will be a democracy only when European policies will be decided by voters. In this respect, could the PES nominate its own candidate to the presidency of the European Commission prior to the 2009 elections?

PNR: I agree that citizens should have more of a direct say in Europe. I believe that if each European political party nominated its candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission, the campaigns for the European elections would be more political and more about European issues. Each party should present its program for the next 5 years and citizens could vote on the basis of clear choices.
 

Ribes: total free trade makes it too difficult to really take into account the needs of publics services. Why not launch and devise a framework law, which better defines the limits and links between services of general interest and competition, and leave it up to each country to define the limits of competition for these services and the fundamental public goods?

PNR: I agree that there needs to be a legal framework for services of general interest. It is vital that essential public services are protected from unreasonable market economic effects. I am pleased that the compromise on the services directive went some way to protecting essential services. But there is still a need for action to permanently protect the provision of essential services from being determined solely on the grounds of "what pays" from a market point-of-view. After all: It is all about people.

Guillaume: Dear Poul, first of all I would like to thank you for the possibility to finally take part in the PES. I am French and quite often shocked by the behavior of my fellow countrymen. What is your explanation for the hesitation of the French delegation following the common guidelines of the socialist group? Do you believe that one day the French PS will accept the principle of consensus which is the base of the European construct?

PNR: We are always trying to reach consensus and I must tell you that in nearly all cases, our parties follow this goal. Our debates can sometimes be difficult, but we have shown in the past years that we could reach offensive positions agreed by all our member parties, including the French PS, the British Labour party, the German SPD and all the others.

Nick: There is increasing interest in the Nordic Social Model as the debate about Social Europe continues. How transferable is it to other European countries given that it's strength is the unique nature of industrial relations in the Nordic countries?

PNR: The Nordic countries have developed social models which have proved to be economically efficient, socially just and environmentally friendly. The presence of Social-democrats in government and the development of strong Trade Unions were key elements of its success. No model can be transposed completely, but our ideas, the direction, the philosophy can! This is what we are discussing. This is what we are discussing in the framework of our initiative “A New Social Europe”, how we, European socialists and social-democrats, can unite around some common principles. First and foremost: That competition, more social security and more jobs - these goals are not in contraction but pre-conditions for each other. The Scandinavian welfare societies are the proofs.
  
Amelia: Congratulations for this initiative. What do you really expect from new activists? My second question is about the African people trying to reach Europe. In Spain we observe every day hundreds of people in smalls boots over the Atlantic and, although there is a great effort to rescue them, hundreds have already death on the see. Don't you think that Europe must do a real effort to avoid this drama?

PNR: Thank you for your support. We are very happy to have launched PES Activists. I know this was a long standing demand from all of you. And let me hear from you now: I expect from activists to be involved in the life of the PES, contribute to its debates and activities. And by the way - let's now develop more European thinking in political actions at all levels. We can make the difference together! The humanitarian drama of immigrants dying while trying to reach the EU is unacceptable - we must find ways to increase living standards and conditions in their own countries. The EU must go into the forefront with a coherent development policy. And Europe must be the world's social consciousness and develop a European immigration and asylum policy based on legal immigration and on the definition of common standards for the protection of fundamental rights of immigrants and asylum seekers.